Post by bluescalesdragon on Sept 8, 2009 21:15:53 GMT -5
My band has been having a LOT lately.
Our show this year is very, very challenging. In a nutshell, the opener and closer are at 180, it's 7 minutes long, and will probably have about 80 pages. There are 10 pages alone in the first 14 seconds of the opener!
We have just about as many new people as we had last year, but 15,000 times the amount of marching issues. We've been at it a month and there are still many people with severe marching issues, ranging from keeping in time to not having any idea as to how to dress a line.
My bd has been a bit distant as to addressing these problems. Perhaps he's got something important on his mind, but during rehearsals, it seems like his expectations are way out of whack with what we are capable of doing. For example, we will spend a large portion of rehearsal marking 8 pages of drill, attempt to run though it as quickly as possible, and then we will come in the next rehearsal and try to run the drill that we just barely remember. Of course it's a big mess. His solution seems to be to yell something horribly negative at us and move on. I have left rehearsals feeling terrible because of this. Negativity can kill you.
Our first game is Saturday. He wants us to have the entire show marked and ready to perform in 4 days. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and the day after, our next rehearsal days. We're screwed.
But, here are the good things that have happened this year:
1. Two years ago, we could have never dreamed of having the entire show on the field by the second weekend in September. Last year we set a record of setting the entire 68 pages of drill by September 18. This year, we set page 68 on August 31. We're a whopping 3 weeks ahead!
2. Our leadership team has taken a drastic turn for the better. Last week, one of the captains sent a facebook message to the drum majors and other captains stressing the importance of positivity during rehearsal and we all had an excellent discussion about it. And we started applying this approach of positivity during our rehearsals, complimenting people whenever they fixed a mistake or dressed the line correctly. We've noticed some improvement since last week. Also, we've started setting up weekly sectionals on a non-rehearsal day for marchers with trouble to come and get some extra practice. Today was the first one and it was fairly well attended and well run. This is very exciting for us because for once, the section leaders and drum majors are all working together and putting in a lot of effort to help our band be the best it can be. In other words, we're fighting back against the circumstances. This would have never happened last year or the year before.
To anyone else who's band has hit a rough spot, well, I'm there too. It hurts in a way only a true marching band kid can really understand. I know what it's like to start out the season with high expectations that gradually drop lower and lower as the days go on. But there is hope, and I wish your band the best of fortune in overcoming whatever obstacles you're having at the moment.
Keep fighting. Don't give up. Be positive. It will pay off.
Our show this year is very, very challenging. In a nutshell, the opener and closer are at 180, it's 7 minutes long, and will probably have about 80 pages. There are 10 pages alone in the first 14 seconds of the opener!
We have just about as many new people as we had last year, but 15,000 times the amount of marching issues. We've been at it a month and there are still many people with severe marching issues, ranging from keeping in time to not having any idea as to how to dress a line.
My bd has been a bit distant as to addressing these problems. Perhaps he's got something important on his mind, but during rehearsals, it seems like his expectations are way out of whack with what we are capable of doing. For example, we will spend a large portion of rehearsal marking 8 pages of drill, attempt to run though it as quickly as possible, and then we will come in the next rehearsal and try to run the drill that we just barely remember. Of course it's a big mess. His solution seems to be to yell something horribly negative at us and move on. I have left rehearsals feeling terrible because of this. Negativity can kill you.
Our first game is Saturday. He wants us to have the entire show marked and ready to perform in 4 days. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and the day after, our next rehearsal days. We're screwed.
But, here are the good things that have happened this year:
1. Two years ago, we could have never dreamed of having the entire show on the field by the second weekend in September. Last year we set a record of setting the entire 68 pages of drill by September 18. This year, we set page 68 on August 31. We're a whopping 3 weeks ahead!
2. Our leadership team has taken a drastic turn for the better. Last week, one of the captains sent a facebook message to the drum majors and other captains stressing the importance of positivity during rehearsal and we all had an excellent discussion about it. And we started applying this approach of positivity during our rehearsals, complimenting people whenever they fixed a mistake or dressed the line correctly. We've noticed some improvement since last week. Also, we've started setting up weekly sectionals on a non-rehearsal day for marchers with trouble to come and get some extra practice. Today was the first one and it was fairly well attended and well run. This is very exciting for us because for once, the section leaders and drum majors are all working together and putting in a lot of effort to help our band be the best it can be. In other words, we're fighting back against the circumstances. This would have never happened last year or the year before.
To anyone else who's band has hit a rough spot, well, I'm there too. It hurts in a way only a true marching band kid can really understand. I know what it's like to start out the season with high expectations that gradually drop lower and lower as the days go on. But there is hope, and I wish your band the best of fortune in overcoming whatever obstacles you're having at the moment.
Keep fighting. Don't give up. Be positive. It will pay off.
